It’s time for the annual winter warning picture. If you can’t stand constant grey and rain for months on end. If you can’t stand rain so heavy it destroys the grass over the winter. If you can’t stand walking around in wet socks all day because your shoes have sprung a leak, then don’t, by all means, move to Portland.
Yep-per. No snow all winter and then BAM! Snow on the first of March. I took this picture and then headed straight back to bed because we had a two-hour delay.
It looks like something is in the works here, as the run-down taco stand that used to mark this corner is now missing. So here’s a picture of what it used to look like, for that future date when it doesn’t look like this anymore.
The school took part in the First Flush ceremony for the newest Portland Loo. As usual, adding children to the mix was delightful.
The Oregonian’s video (which sadly includes an ad) has a slide show and the Skip to My Loo song.
Have you heard of the Portland Loo? It’s a public toilet designed to avoid all the usual problems of public toilets. They’ve been pretty successful here, enough so that Portland is starting to sell them to other cities. Recently, the city has decided to install one in the North Park Blocks, directly across from the school at which I work. We are very excited about this because we are hoping it ends the practice of people using the playground or our parking lot as their bathroom. And today the loo is being installed!
And, crack blogger that I am, I forgot to take a final picture. But you will see it when I show you the pictures from the First Flush ceremony, which will happen next week. In the meantime, look at the awesome design for the door on the loo. Apparently, each Loo’s door reflects the character of the area the Loo is located. The city asked the school children to create the design. We picked out a quote by Emerson and all the kids drew flowers. A selection of them were chosen and sent to the city and a woman came up with this fabulous design incorporating our flowers. We even got our own copy of the door to hang in our school, which is what you see here.
Snow was forecast, but I didn’t get excited. We had some Tuesday, but it wasn’t sticking. Going to bed Wednesday night there were two scenarios: the temperature would stay low and a bunch of snow would drop on the Portland area. Or, the temperature would increase and we would get a bunch of rain. I woke up Wednesday morning, hearing the rain and I assumed that we had missed the snow entirely. But no! We got a couple of inches before the rains came!
And those couple of inches were enough to delay school for two hours. We started at 10:30 instead of 8:30. Of course, Wednesdays are also our early release day. We are done at 1:00. So school started at 10:30, the kids had ninety minutes of learning followed by 30 minutes of lunch and 30 minutes of recess. Then everyone went home. It was kind of a lame day. 31 (of 142) students were absent and I don’t blame them one bit.
Man, what a gorgeous autumn day. I hope I appreciated it.
Often I see these big ships tied up (parked?) and wondered how they work. In town, near the bridges and the silos, they seem huge, but I bet on the ocean they seem very small. I wonder what it’s like to be on one, how many people work on them and what their work is like. I also see the comparatively tiny lifeboats on the side and can’t imagine ever needing to get into one. How does one find out what life on these ships is like?
Matt and I were walking back from some good BBQ at Seven Rivers BBQ and we stopped to check in with the lot where the tiny house was. As you can see, it is being replaced by a gargantuan house with very little yard. Alas.
I knew that the Macdonald Center bought the building that housed the club Satyricon and were going to use it to house what used to be Outreach Ministry, before Outreach was absorbed into the Macdonald Center. I know all of this because Matt did a Jesuit Volunteer Year with Outreach and our friend Laurie works there still. What I didn’t realize was that the existing building would be torn down. This is because Outreach has existed in what I refer to as “the unfortunately painted building” in Old Town for quite some time. It’s a bit rough around the edges, so I just assumed that they would perhaps repaint the black facade and move everyone in. So it was quite a surprise to encounter this as I walked from the Max to work:
Even though I’m a great supporter of re-using and re-purposing existing structures, something about demolition of buildings nearly always is exciting to watch. Here we can see the last few hours in the life of the doorway.
And here a view of the back side of the building. I hadn’t realized it was as big as it was.
To read more about Satyricon and the new building click here for an Oregonian article. (Demolition begins on building that once housed Satyricon Nightclub. July 27, 2011.)
And here is a link about the final concert at Satyricon. (Portland Nightclub Satyricon says farewell with series of reunion shows. October 16, 2010)
Past mid-June in Portland.
Do you have your warm coat? Check.
Your wool hat? Check.
Is the arctic wind still blowing gales while you wait for the bus, making you wish you hadn’t so blithely left your scarf at home? It is indeed.
